Sweet'n'Sour

By Kenneth Smith President, Colifornia Redwood Association

1943 has certainly been a "sweet 'n' Sour" year for Redwood manufacturers. Sour because-. it has been impossible to do a normal business with our friends. Sour because it upset almost every established procedure of our business to such an extent that we will practically have to start over anew when the Pressure is relaxed in order ered production, but as late as May of this year it still looked like there would be enough lumber to supply war needs, keep the restricted war housing' prograrn going, and supply dealers with enough lumber to meet the real needs of farmers.

Admittedly no margin of safety for either catastrophe or unexpected increase in demand, but apparently just enough. The Truman Committee record was no more than made when first the Navy and then the Army found offshore demand (and shipping space) much greater than anticipated.

Then the lumber industry on the Pacific Coast did the impossible again. In spite of all the handicaps it met every demand. The Redwood industry, small in volume though it is in comparison to other species, can take pride in its contribution to this record.

We think it would be impossible to match this year's production volume again next year, but we do have the same high hopes as all of you that the war needs will not ,be so urgent next year. This is definitely only a hope. At the moment, the government estimate'of its requiremen.ts for Redwood tank and pipe, and also for boards and dimension, is more than double their estimate this time last year of 1943 require,ments-and we have nothing, practically speaking, to meet it with except what rve cut from day to day.

Kenneth Smitb

to get back to the kind of business we have always operated. Sweet because in spite of one handicap after another that appeared unsurmountable when it arose, the Redwood industry has hung up a phenomenal record for production. In no instance that we know of has a war job been held up for lack of the promised Redwood-and no ship has sailed without the needed lumber.

The men and women who do the work deserve a large measure of credit for this. We had short crews everylvhere, and women took men's places in more than 500 jobs-but they turned out more lumber per man hour, with the result that the total production of the Redwood Area this year will top 1942-a phenomenal record, considering the fact that the lumber production over the country as a whole is down 10 per cent.

We wish we had some basis for forming a judgment as to what 1944 is likely to bring, but it is so wholly dependent upon the unknown factor of what the war requirements are going to be that we can only fall back on the sage advice of Mr. Lowell:

"Don't never prophesy-onless ye know."

At that time last year government demand for lumber was easing off and except for'boxes and crating, all signs pointed to less government requirements in 1943 than in 1942. The manpower situation pointed as definitely to low-

When the Japs struck at Pearl Harbor we had a normal situation, with an order file which was 15 per cent of. stock on hand; January 1 of this year our order file was 56 per cent of stock on hand; today it is more than 200 per cent of stock on hand, a condition that has never existed before.

These figures are eloquen,tly indicative of the extent to which the situation has been taken completely out of our hands, when it is remembered that our production, both in 1942 and 1943, exceeded that of 1941.

The Redwood industry can well be proud of its contribution to our war needs. I't can be equally proud of the extent to which it has been able to take care o\ the most urgent needs of its regular dealers, impossible as it has been to give anything resembling normal service.

Appointed Mcncrgrer

Earle A. Sanborn, Barr Lumber Company, Whittier, has been appointed manager of the Schafer Bros. Lumber & Shingle Company's office at Reedsport, Ore., succeeding Charles T. Gartin who resigned on December 15.

Earle is well known in Southern California lumber circles, and prior to joining the Barr organization, was connected with the wholesale lumber department of the E. K. Wood Lumber Company at Los Angeles for a long period.

New I(/ar Housing Construction

Southern California lending institutions filed applications with the Federal Housing Administration, during Octobei for mortgage.insurance totaling over $11,000,00O to finance construction of proposed, new, family dwelling units for war workers, and to finance the purchase of, or refund mortgages of existing homes. These activities involve 1,683 residential units, district director John E. McGovern of the Southern California Federal Housing Administration announced.

Approximately $t00O,000 of this volume represents applications for insurance or mortgages under the Title VI program'for new war housing construction. The balance of approximately $2,00O,000 is represented by applications for insurance on mortgages to finance the purchase of existing homes under Title II and Title VI programs.

This volume of applications for insurance on mortgages represents the largest volume for any single month since August, 1942

During the month of October nearly one thousand new family units, financed with FHA-insured mortgage loans have been placed under construction by private builders rn Southern California localities.

In addition to these new construction and refinancing activities, under the FHA-insured loan program, a substantial volume of maintenance and repair loans have been insured under FHA Title f, Ifome Repair Plan, wherein loans up to $2,500 are eligible with terms for repayment up to thre,: years, concluded Mr. McGovern.